Grounded in Mid-air
by tapestrytales
Summary: Angelina Johnson has not step foot in Hogwarts since the battle that claimed the life of her first love. Ten years later she's living in the muggle world working a dead-end job in a bookstore, hiding out from the world she used to belong to. When a familiar face from her past catches up to her she finds herself returning to the one place she swore she'd never go back to- Hogwarts.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

"It says right here that you have it!" A bright screen pushed forward into her face.

With a sigh and a quick count to ten she regained her sense of calm.

"Sometimes the system lies. Or a customer picks up a book and puts it back in the wrong place. People steal. Counts are off. What I'm trying to say is there are a thousand and one reasons the website states we have a copy of that book and I am telling you that we don't. Wherever it is, it's not where it's supposed to be and unfortunately there is absolutely nothing I can do about that. Now, if you'd like to order a copy to the store I'd be happy to help. Otherwise, will there be anything else Sir?"

His response was a steely glare before he stomped away from the counter.

She heard a sudden buzzing sound in her left ear. "Angelina, could you come to the registers I've got a coupon malfunction."

Another sigh as she made her way to the front of the store. "It never ends."

Eleven minutes before midnight she propped the door to her flat open with her right foot as she bent to grab the pile of boxes behind her. Stumbling in with the mountain of boxes obscuring her vision, Angelina did not notice the cloaked figure seated on her couch in the near darkness. The boxes were dropped onto the wooden floor with a loud thump and she slipped out of her shoes. The tick of her wall clock and the whirring of her refrigerator were the only sounds in the apartment until a throat cleared from somewhere behind her. Within seconds a previously concealed wand was out and she muttered a stupefication spell in the general direction of the sound.

"Shite. Probably best not to stupefy one's old professor. But on the other hand probably best not to sneak up on a witch. Rennervate!"

Minerva McGonagall snapped back to life, "Angelina Johnson, good to see you haven't forgotten yourself."

"Pardon me Professor, but what in heavens are you doing in my flat!?"

"Actually it's Headmistress now."

"Right sorry, of course."

A moment of tense silence passed between them as they were brought back to the events that brought about this change in status.

"Why didn't you block my spell?"

"I didn't want to startle you. Besides I figured you'd course correct as soon as you realized."

"Right…now you're in my flat because?"

"Angelina, it's been ten years. It's time. I know you retreated here after- Well, you've got to stop hiding. You're needed. At Hogwarts. It's time to come back."

Angelina bristled at the almost mention. As far as she was concerned she needed to do nothing of the sort.

"Would you like some tea Professor-er Headmistress? I'll put the kettle on."

She busied herself in the kitchenette while McGonagall watched.

"One of the best players I saw in my time, a worthy successor to my captainship – Oliver Wood; A tough but understanding captain willing to put the needs of the team over a win – Harry Potter; A devoted and true friend – Alicia Spinnet; A clever and tactical player with a mind sharp enough to cut through glass and a heart big enough to push through any challenge – Madame Rolanda Hooch…shall I continue?"

Angelina returned with two mugs of tea and sat beside her former professor on the couch.

"No, I reckon that's quite enough. I know who I used to be. What I used to care about. But I'm not that girl anymore."

The older woman fixed her gaze on Angelina's face. After a moment she finally spoke again this time her voice gentle, "He would have wanted you to move past it, you must know this."

Angelina left the couch wordlessly and opened the door to her flat, waiting.

"There's a job for you at Hogwarts if you change your mind. We're in dire need of a Flying Instructor that doesn't have a fear of heights. I do hope you'll reconsider." With those final words Minerva McGonagall disappeared into thin air with a loud crack.

Angelina stood there staring at the space where she had just been. Had it really been a decade? How was it possible for her to still hurt so much? It felt as though she'd been living those last ten years barely conscious, moving through molasses, everything else so far away. There was an incredible emptiness inside her that reminded her of a black hole. It was as if she'd collapsed into herself.


	2. Part 1: Chapter 1

"Uniform?"

"Check!"

"Books?"

"Check!"

"Wand?"

The bright and eager eleven year old rolled her eyes, "Of course I packed my wand, Dad!"

The burly man chuckled as he wrestled with the overflowing trunk on the floor of his only daughter's bedroom.

"I suppose there's no room even if you have forgotten something, Bug."

She grinned. The wall beside her held a calendar with a countdown to her first day of Hogwarts. Next to it, her most prized possession- an autographed poster of Gwenog Jones zooming through the air during a match. For a young girl's bedroom it was surprisingly lacking in pink and stuffed animals. Instead a quick glance would reveal mostly muddy trainers and haphazardly strewn piles of dirty clothing. Angelina ambled over to her closet and fished out an old toy broomstick she'd clearly outgrown over the years.

"When do you think we'll learn to really fly?"

Her father's face scrunched up in thought.

"I reckon we learned our first year. Though, there's no way you'll be able to join the team straight away. That takes time and lots of practice."

Angelina cradled the worn broom, "Someday, someone will have a picture of me on their wall."

"What do you say we take that old stick for a spin in the yard Bug?"

The smile was nearly too big for her face as she raced her father out the door.

-x-

"I bet you fall off your broom in five seconds flat!"

A pale, freckled boy with a mischevious glint in his eye was dangling an impossible to refuse offer right in front of Angelina's face.

"I give her three!" Quipped the darker boy beside him.

"You sure you want to bet your best Chocolate Frog Cards on that? I mean, I'd really hate to take them all from you so easily."

"Yeah right, everyone knows girls are rubbish at flying!" This came from yet another red-headed terror.

"You know what, if you're that sure why don't we up the ante? If I win you all have to do my essays for the next two weeks."

"And when you lose?"

" _If_ I lose, you can have the sweets my mum sends in my next care package."

"Pass." The twins replied simultaneously. Lee Jordan on the other hand seemed to be considering her offer.

"If you lose, you owe each of us one favor to be collected at any time- no questions asked." Something in the tone of George's voice made Angelina feel like she was making a deal with the Devil himself. However, her need to prove the boys wrong outweighed her apprehension.

"Fine. But no funny business." She gave the boys a warning look.

"And since there's school work on the table, no more of this stay on your broomstick nonsense. You've got to fly circles around us."

"I could fly circles around you lot in my sleep."

"You talk a big game Johnson but we'll see what you're really made of soon enough!"

"Lee, do you ever shut up?" Angelina flashed a grateful smile at her partner in crime, Katie.

The air on the field was charged as each first year waited anxiously for their professor to arrive. A plethora of regulation, school-supplied broomsticks lay at their feet tempting them to make a quick break skyward. The most impatient of them all was Angelina.

The day had finally come. After years of riding arms wrapped tighter than a boa constrictor around her father, hovering around a meter above ground on her toy broomstick, reading chapter after chapter from flying manuals- the time had come. She was going to fly.

Angelina pushed her heels into the ground and let go. Hovering was the easy part. The balance came to her naturally as if she'd been born in a world without gravity's pressure pulling her down. Madame Hooch gave them the okay to lift off under strict instructions: no higher than the towers of the school and no farther than the flags she'd set up on either side of the field. As Angelina picked up speed and height her heart hammered in her chest. When she reached the limit, she took a moment to take in the magic surrounding her. Below, the ground seemed as far as the sky had always been and just as foreign. Flying was the missing piece of her she'd always felt but never had the vocabulary to describe.

"What's the matter Angelina? Lost your nerve?" She shot a steely glare in Fred Weasely's direction. He really knew how to ruin a moment.

With refreshed determination she zoomed toward him. She'd show him nerve alright. Just as she tilted her body to swoop around him she felt the impact of what felt like a tonne of bricks knocking her right off her broom. Her body dropped quickly, building speed as she tumbled until her professor swooped in and pulled Angelina onto her broom. They landed a bit bumpily but no worse for wear and Madame Hooch blew her whistle signaling the students back to the ground. Her face was unreadable as she approached a smirking Slytherin just touching back down to the field.

"5 points from Slytherin and I will be having a very long word with you after class Mr. Pucey."

She turned to the rest of the bewildered first years, "Students, it is unacceptable for you to body-check a classmate while flying. Anyone believing otherwise will find themselves punished appropriately."

Madame Hooch returned to Angelina who although shaken was not hurt. After quick inspection her professor came to the same conclusion and allowed her to return to her group of friends.

"Those Slytherins are vile. Just couldn't wait for an opportunity to attack a Gryffindor." Lee's dreaded head shook in disgust.

"Yeah and the coward went after a girl, talk about weak."

"Excuse me?" Interrupted Alicia Spinnet, "What do you mean by that? Girls are just as tough as boys, Fred."

"Don't be so sensitive I didn't mean it like that."

"What exactly did you mean then?"

Angelina rolled her eyes as the two continued to bicker. She wandered away from the group in search of her broom. She didn't notice George following her and was startled when his stride began matching hers.

"You alright?"

She nodded. "Falling wasn't so bad."

He smiled, "Yeah you're a real natural at that!"

"Ha. Ha." Her eyes rolled back into her head. George's grin straightened out slightly.

"Really though, you looked good up there. Like that's where you belong."

Angelina slowed down and turned to face George. He had articulated something she'd always known about herself in the simplest, most obvious way. Perhaps there was more to him than juvenile pranks and witty quips. Something quieter, overshadowed by the clamor of being a Weasley twin.

"Is that it, your broom over there?" He pointed a few meters ahead of them. She nodded and started towards it.

With her broom back where it belonged, she and George returned to the rest of the class an unspoken understanding settling into the air between them.

"So, Angelina…about that favor." Lee's face lit up and his eyebrows raised.

"What? You can't win on a technicality! If Pucey hadn't knocked me off I'd have won!"

"Listen, we don't make the rules. Fair is fair."

If looks could kill, Fred Weasely would be six feet under. Angelina muttered unmentionable things under breath as she resigned herself to her unfortunate fate.


	3. Part 1: Chapter 2

Angelina's eyes remained frustratingly open. She turned over and her gaze fell on the open book on the floor next to her bed. A figure flew in and out of a moving photograph on a page of _The Practical Wizard's Guide to Quidditch_. As Alicia Spinnet let out a rumbling snore, Angelina found herself stepping out of the comfort of her warm bed and lifting the book off the floor. She grabbed her wand from the bedside table and whispered "Lumos," to light a path in front of her.

In the common room she was surprised to see the lights on and a scarlet head bent over a vial. Unsure which twin was awake at this ungodly hour, she tried peering around him without disturbing his focus. The rustle of her pajama pants gave the boy a slight start. George. She smiled the knowing smile of those unable to sleep well into the night. He cocked an eyebrow upon noticing the book in her hand.

"Studying Quidditch plays?"

"Revising for potions?"

He raised his eyebrows and shook his head with a touch of mischief.

"This is definitely not Snape approved."

She was curious but she let it go, knowing after all these years that it was best not to ask for more details when a Weasley twin was involved. Instead she settled herself in a couch not far from the table he was working at and flipped through her book distractedly. She couldn'st stop glancing over every few seconds trying to figure out what exactly George was so intently mixing together in those tiny little glasses. After a few moments she'd abandanoned all guise of paying attention to her book and startled herself when it fell off her lap with an echoing thud. Embarrassed that she'd been caught in the act of snooping she could feel the flush creeping up her face.

"Must be a fascinating read."

"It's mostly maneuvers and broomstick positioning." She reconsidered her phrasing there as George cracked a grin.

"You're not going to learn anything you don't already know."

"It's not like I'll be sleeping anytime soon."

"Nerves?"

"You wish Weasely. I know you're eyeing my spot."

"Your spot?! You sound really confident for a girl reading a _Practical_ guide at three in the morning."

Somehow, somewhere their silly teasing had crossed a line and Angelina found herself unable to make eye contact with him.

"I didn't mean anything by it." He held out the vial.

She looked from him to the vial and back to him again.

"Go on, try it."

"It's not going to make my lips swell or give me a moustache is it?" She squinted her eyes at the pink liquid.

"Nah, no funny business. I promise. Just try it."

Angelina knew that if you trusted the twins and found yourself in a strange situation it was more your fault than theirs. Their track record wasn't the greatest. There was the time Fred and George had filled all of her shoes with a sticky substance in their first year which took her ages to remove. And the time they turned her robes chartreuse and refused to turn them back until she told the entire house that they were the wizest wizards in the world. She still wasn't sure that George wasn't handing her a vial of Unigrow- she would definitely not look good with a unibrow though at the very least it would improve her game face for the tryouts tomorrow. Still, she took it from him and sniffed. It didn't smell too suspicious. He watched as she tasted a sip. She couldn't believe it. George watched as her face went from apprehensive to blissful.

"How did you make it taste like a sunny day at the beach?"

The satisfied look on his face was not enough of an answer.

"I'm serious, this is incredible. What is it?"

"I've been thinking of calling it Bottled Sunshine. Been messing around with a few. Mostly good memories from childhood that would be nice to ingest on a lousy day."

"George Weasely, you are always something."

He held her gaze for a moment and then broke the silence, "I've got an idea."

"Oh boy."

"No, I think you'll like it. C'mon."

"Come on? Where on Earth are we going at this hour? We'll get into trouble!"

"You worry way too much Angelina. You're with me remember? I have my ways." He waggled his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes but followed him anyway.

Angelina had never been in the corridors of Hogwarts after dark. The shadows performed a skillfully choreographed dance turning ordinary objects sinister. Portraits were filled with sleeping occupants or otherwise completely empty. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the absence of the usual bluster of student life. A small part of her wondered if this was all a part of George's grand scheme to get rid of the competition. He'd get her in trouble right before tryouts and somehow escape scot-free. She wouldn't put it past him to do something so diabolical. But, another part of her only slightly larger than the part that suspected him, wanted desperately to trust him. Together the Weasely twins were like a booby-trapped room. Nowhere was safe. Alone, it was an entirely different set of rules. Rules Angelina had not quite figured out yet.

They arrived at their destination- the creepy statue of a hump-backed witch in the third floor corridor. George muttered something at the statue and suddenly the hump opened. Angelina stared, transfixed.

"Well, don't just stand there. Hop in then!"

Angelina continued staring her features becoming more and more incredulous. He sighed impatiently.

"Fine, I'll go first." And with that George Weasley disappeared into the open hole in the statue's back. Angelina looked around wildly. She could not believe her own eyes. There was no sign of George. Where he'd gone she couldn't even fathom but she found herself following him despite herself.

Death. Trickery. Perhaps even just humiliation. All things Angelina expected to discover at the end of her slide down the passageway. What she did not expect was to find herself in a cellar that looked suspiciously like Honeydukes Sweet Shop. She saw George leaning against a wall on the side with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

"What is this?"

"Honeydukes, obviously."

"Okay….but why are we here?"

"Oh, you'll see." She cocked an eyebrow. Nothing was ever easy with a Weasely.

He motioned for her to join him as he made his way up and out of the cellar. A finger came up against her lips as she attempted to speak. Angelina dismissed the buzzing she felt at the contact of his skin against hers as nerves. They were after all sneaking around Honeydukes after hours. He looked around verifying the coast was clear and they made their way out of the shop.

After walking for what felt like a long while, he finally stopped in front of a decrepit and eery building. The Shrieking Shack. Why had he led her here, she wondered. She wasn't given much time to consider his reasons as he began searching the ground in the yard for something.

"Aha! Gotcha!" He took Angelina's hand and turned to her.

"Ready?"

"For wha-" she began to respond when suddenly it felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Her mind and body felt like two separate entities as the world whirled and spun around her. Within moments she fell abruptly onto a dusty floor, George at her side. She let go of his hand quickly and attempted to sit upright only to feel the room shifting around her.

"First time? You'll adjust in a minute." George put a small, oddly shaped rock down on the ground as he lept up.

"Welcome to The Shrieking Shack."

As Angelina looked around the room he continued, "Sorry about that uncomfortable entrance, there's no other way to get in here aside from portkeys or the Hogwarts grounds."

"George, why are we here?"

"All in due time, my curious friend. Now, if you'll follow me once more please." He held his hand out to Angelina.

She ignored him and got up on her own. He frowned before turning and walking to a corner of the room. He fished around underneath a broken wardrobe and pulled out two broomsticks. George led the way down into a narrow corridor. It revealed itself to be a tunnel and before she knew it Angelina found herself being led back to Hogwarts. They were climbing out of the Whomping Willow. The branches were still as if waiting for an invitation to move.

George got on his broom quickly and motioned for her to do the same with the other. She did so and was alarmed by how quickly he flew out and up from under the tree. Following she let out a gasp as the tree came to life. She hovered up beside him inches out of the tree's reach.

"George Weasely if you don't explain right this instant!" She fixed him with the firm look her father had given to her many times as a child. She was tempted to smack the smug look right off his ruddy face.

"You're nervous about tryouts right? Well, this is the perfect way to practice. Just pretend the branches are rogue bludgers and dodge your way around them. Tryouts will feel like nothing compared to this."

Angelina watched him weave in and out between the brances of the willow. She hated to admit it, but perhaps he had a point. Getting thrashed by this tree was a lot scarier than the threat of a bludger mid-game. She gathered her nerve and directed her broom towards the violent plant.

Angelina's heart caught as she narrowly missed a blow to the head. As she began to acclimate herself to the rythms of the branches, she began to feel more at ease. She trusted her abilities and got creative with her misdirections. She chuckled to herself at the thought that the tree was just about as clever as a Slytherin beater would be. She and George baffled the willow for nearly an hour until they finally returned to the ground, sweaty and satisfied. They sat a few feet from the tree that had finally become still again and watched as the sun began to creep up into the sky.

"You're a hard wizard to peg, George Weasely. Why'd you do all this? I am your competition after all."

"If anyone deserves to make the team it's you. I've never met anyone as Quidditch obsessed in my life."

She rolled her eyes at his little dig. His gaze softened and she couldn't quite read the expression on his face.

"I mean it. You deserve good things, Angelina." He held her gaze for a few moments before Angelina looked away, breaking the strange spell they were under.

"I suppose we should get back to the dormitories before we're caught."

"So soon?"

Her eyebrows raised, questioning him without saying a word.

"I mean, there's still time for one more round."

She laughed. There he was, the George Weasely she knew best. Always ready for more. She lifted herself off the ground and threw a leg over her broom.

"Last one there's a rotten dragon egg."

George smiled, a new determination in his eyes, "Not so fast, Johnson. I'm not going to let you best me so easily this time."

The willow sprang to life and swung animatedly, just missing the wayward pair as they moved deftly between its arms.; an unnoticed electricity flowing between them.


End file.
